1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-recording device and, in particular, to an image-recording device which records an image using a light and heat sensitive recording material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image-recording device which is used for printing silver halide photographs, photographing is carried out using a film such as a negative film, a positive film or the like, and image information recorded on the film, after development, is optically printed on printing paper. Then, the printing paper is processed with a processing solution, such that a print is obtained. Such an image-recording device usually utilizes a wet process that uses a processing solution. With such an image-recording device, the size of a processing device tends to be large, and thus processing costs are high.
As a method of processing a photosensitive material using silver halide, there has been developed an easy and rapid processing method which utilizes heat development. However, in this heat-development process, a dye generated by heat development is transferred to an image-receiving material, and the side of the image-receiving material subjected to transfer is used as a print. Thus, there is a drawback in that waste products are generated.
Currently, an image-recording device which utilizes a completely dry system free of waste products is being proposed. In this image-recording device, multiple processes are carried out with an optical recording section, a heat-development section, a photo-fixing section and the like, so that an image is formed on a light and heat sensitive recording material. Specifically, at an image exposure section, a light beam is irradiated onto the light and heat sensitive recording material to record a latent image. At the heat-development section, heat is applied to the latent image recorded on the light and heat sensitive recording material, and the latent image is thereby developed. Then, at the photo-fixing section, the developed image is irradiated with light and is fixed.
When the image is fixed using a light source lamp of the photo-fixing section, fixing takes several minutes, because of characteristics of the light and heat sensitive recording material. Thus, there is a problem in that the time required for processing in the photo-fixing section is long, and the overall speed of image-recording processing is significantly slowed.
The present invention has been devised in order to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image-recording device which enables an improvement of processing speed when image-recording using a light and heat sensitive recording material. In a first aspect of the present invention, the present invention has: an optical recording section which exposes a light and heat sensitive recording material with light for recording a latent image; a heat-development section, downstream of the optical recording section, which develops the latent image by heating; and a photo-fixing section, downstream of the heat-development section, which brings a film surface of the light and heat sensitive recording material to a temperature from 30 to 200xc2x0 C. and irradiates light for fixing the developed image.
In accordance with the present invention, a recording material which uses a composition which is cured by light may be used as the photosensitive thermal material. In a case of using such a light and heat sensitive recording material, the composition which is cured with light is photo-cured by exposing the recording material with light which has been passed through or reflected by an original of the image or by carrying out exposure with light scanning using image data, such that a latent image is formed. Thereafter, when the light and heat sensitive recording material is heated, at an uncured portion corresponding to the latent image, components which relate to color formation or decolorization move within the recording material, and a color image is formed. Then, when the surface of the light and heat sensitive recording material is irradiated with light, the formed image is fixed and a non-image portion is decolorized. This process is useful not only for recording black-and-white images but also for recording color images. Now, the photo-fixing means heats the film surface of the light and heat sensitive recording material to from 30 to 200xc2x0 C., as well as irradiating the light and heat sensitive recording material with light. Consequently, radical activation in the light and heat sensitive recording material accelerates, so efficiency of a photopolymerization reaction and efficiency of photo-decolorization increase.
The high temperature of the film surface of the light and heat sensitive recording material at the photo-fixing section may be achieved by retaining heat applied at the heat-development section. That is, a part of the function of the photo-fixing section may overlap the function of the heat-development section, and image-fixing by the photo-fixing means is accelerated using preheat generated at the heat-development section during heat-development processing. Thus, energy consumption during heating by the photo-fixing means can be reduced, and the whole device can be made more compact. Further, the photo-fixing section may heat the film surface of the light and heat sensitive recording material by photo-heating.